The winter of 2013/2014 may be one we remember for a long time in the golf course industry. The weather has blasted its way across the continent, dumping snow and freezing rain, pushing down arctic air and leaving us with terms like "Polar Vortex," something that sounds more like the finishing move of an Inuit wrestler, or a polar bear with an anger management problem.
With all jokes aside, our friends out East have certainly had it the worst, but those of us out here in the West haven't exactly had it easy either. With record breaking cold snaps followed by near record warm spells, winter has been less than ideal for our little friend the grass plant.
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| Recorded at the Kamloops Airport |
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| 11th fairway Ice formation in Nov/2013. |
With our 2010 conversion to bentgrass we should come out much better than we have in previous years of bad winters. Bentgrass goes dormant earlier and wakes up later than the native poa annua grass, making it more tolerant to the forces of winter. However, poa will always be creeping its way back in, no matter how hard we try to keep it out. Some of our low lying fairway areas where water accumulates have a higher concentration of poa. Bentgrass does not like to stay wet, causing plants in these areas to become weaker, allowing poa to move in quite easily. These are also the same areas we saw snow melt in November collect and form ice. So will the "Ice Ice Maybe" do some damage? Probably some, yes. We can expect to do some re-seeding in these low lying areas where ice accumlated. Much of the poa will not survive for such an extended period of time under ice and threat of thaw-freeze cycles.
All of the plugs we took on Jan 27th responded reasonably well when taken inside and watered.
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| Jan 27/2014 |
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| Feb 10/2014 |
These healthy plugs provide some comfort but also keep in mind we have had more thaw-freeze cycles and extreme cold through February. More sample plugs have been taken today and we will update you on their progress in the coming weeks.
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| The 4the Green looking towards tee. Feb 16th/2014 |
Earlier in February most of the remaining snow cover had a layer of ice underneath. With temperatures expected to rise in mid February we decided that the best course of action for our greens would be to shovel herringbone surface drainage. This helps create pathways for water run off and helps to prevent pooling in low spots and re-freezing. By leaving the snow and ice layer intact, we would still have some protection from winter if temperatures dropped again. Much of the snow melted off but many areas were still left covered This was helpful as the the temperatures did drop quite substantially again towards the end of February, this can all be illustrated in the above graph.
As we prepare to open the course for a new season, our 100th season! we remain optimistic that the course has weathered well this winter. We expect to do some reseeding of fairway and rough areas, while greens and tees should come out in relatively good shape. We have ordered seed and fertilizer in preparation for our spring work. We are looking forward to another great year and are exited to bring back our core staff while recruiting a few new team members to bring us to our full potential.
We are currently aiming to open for Friday March 21, weather permitting. Please join us in welcoming the 100th year of the Kamloops Golf and Country Club.
